It Loves Me... It Loves Me Not: Towards Implementing Artificial Love in Companion Robots

We describe our prototype implementation of Chapman’s theory about the five love languages into a humanoid robot. This implementation has the objective of fostering a relationship that nurtures love, and that could lead to the human feeling loved by the robot. This special bond could potentially serve as a non-pharmacological intervention to aid in patients’ treatment or wellbeing during prolonged hospitalizations. At the same time, the robot could monitor the patient in case abnormal behaviour is detected such as anxiety or depression

Preventing human immunodeficiency virus infection among sexual assault survivors in Cape Town, South Africa: an observational study.

We describe 131 South African sexual assault survivors offered HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). While the median days completed was 27 (IQR 27, 28), 34% stopped PEP or missed doses. Controlling for baseline symptoms, PEP was not associated with symptoms (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 0.66, 2.64). Factors associated with unprotected sex included prior unprotected sex (OR = 6.46, 95% CI = 3.04, 13.74), time since the assault (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.12, 1.57) and age (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.08, 1.57). Trauma counseling was protective (OR = 0.18, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.58). Four instances of seroconversion were observed by 6 months (risk = 3.7%, 95% CI = 1.0, 9.1). Proactive follow-up is necessary to increase the likelihood of PEP completion and address the mental health and HIV risk needs of survivors. Adherence interventions and targeted risk reduction counseling should be provided to minimize HIV acquisition

Fulminant fatal necrotising fasciitis in an extremely preterm infant

A 23+0 week gestation twin girl weighing 465 g was born via spontaneous vaginal delivery. On postnatal day 4, a small area of broken skin was noted on her back. Flucloxacillin and gentamicin were commenced and Cavilon cream was applied. Vancomycin was substituted after blood culture grew Staphylococcus epidermidis. A skin swab isolated skin flora only. By postnatal day 10, the lesion had worsened with a haemorrhagic petechial appearance and multiple abscesses (figure 1). Staphylococcal impetigo was suspected and fusidic acid cream, mupirocin and paraffin ointment were added. Repeat blood culture grew Klebsiella oxytoca and meropenem was added. By day 12, there were extensive necrotic and gangrenous areas with ecchymotic ‘lakes’ of pus covering her head, back, groin and arms (figure 2). Necrotising fasciitis was diagnosed. Repeat skin swab grew Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus and Aspergillus flavus. Surgical debridement was considered unfeasible due to her extreme prematurity and progressive septic deterioration. Following a multidisciplinary team meeting including parents, intensive care was withdrawn on day 12

Interprofessional Scenario-Based Learning for New Graduates in a Regional Setting: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Globally there is an increased emphasis on the provision of high quality healthcare and improved productivity under mounting financial constraints. Interprofessional collaboration and practice are considered crucial in promoting teamwork and optimising patient outcomes. However, there is a lack of structured, evaluated interprofessional learning opportunities for graduates in regional and rural health services in Australia. This pilot study reports on a novel interprofessional new graduate learning program that was developed and implemented to address the lack of structured post-qualification interprofessional learning opportunities in the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service. Methods: Twenty-one participants enrolled in the six-month program, which consisted of six ninety-minute sessions. A mixed method exploratory design was used to collect data using the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale before and after the program, and a reflective summary at program completion. Results: Results indicated that participation in the program had a positive effect on participants’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours regarding interprofessional practice as measured on the Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale. Various themes about the usefulness of the program to participants were elicited from the reflective summary data. These included enhanced understanding of interprofessional practice, increased confidence in own professional role, improved understanding of the roles of other professions, increased collaboration with others, improved patient outcomes and improved networking with colleagues. Conclusions: It was concluded that the new graduate interprofessional learning program was a feasible and effective way to facilitate interprofessional learning among health graduates in a regional health service

Virtual design bureau

В статье описывается краткая история Виртуального конструкторского бюро космического приборостроения за 5 лет его существования. В статье можно прочитать об основных, но при этом наиболее важных событиях в жизни ВКБ и кафедры точного приборостроения за этот период. ВКБ сыграло значительную роль в определении направления развитии кафедры. Самыми значимыми проектами являются создание студенческого Центра управления полетами космическими аппаратами и участие взапуске спутника "Томск-ТПУ-120".The article describes a brief 5-year history of the Virtual Design Bureau. In the article you can read about the most important events in the life of the VDB and the Department of Precision Instrument Making for this period. VDB played a significant role in determining the department development direction. The most significant projects are the creation of a student space flight control center and participation in the launch of the Tomsk-TPU-120 satellite

Introduction to plithogenic sociogram with preference representations by plithogenic number

The theory of Plithogeny is gaining momentum in recent times as it generalizes the concepts of fuzzy, intuitionistic, neutrosophy and other extended representations of fuzzy sets. The relativity of the comprehensive and accommodative nature of plithogenic sets in dealing with attributes shall be applied to handle the decision–making problems in the field of sociology.  This paper introduces the concepts of Plithogenic Sociogram (PS) and Plithogenic Number (PN) where the former is the integration of plithogeny to the sociometric technique of sociogram and the latter is the generalization of fuzzy, intuitionistic and neutrosophic numbers that shall be used in representations of preferences in group dynamics. This research work outlines the conceptual development of these two newly proposed concepts and discusses the merits of the existing theory of similar kind with suitable substantiation. The plithogenic sociogram model encompassing the attributive preferences with plithogenic number representation is also developed to explicate how it can be materialized in the real social field. A conjectural illustration is put forth to analyze the efficiency and the feasibility of the proposed plithogenic sociogram model and its function in decision-making. This paper also throws light on generalized plithogenic number, dominant attribute constrained plithogenic number and combined dominant attribute constrained plithogenic number together with its operations and suitable illustrations

Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science into Forestry, Natural Resources, and Environmental Programs

A new minor titled “Indigenous Studies in Natural Resources and the Environment” (INRE) became available to students at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California, in the fall of 2013. This minor aims to bring together the principles of both Indigenous ecological knowledge and western science. Instruction in these two approaches provides students with practical knowledge, research, and critical thinking skills to address complex environmental issues and natural resources management problems facing both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities around the world today. The INRE minor seeks to prepare students by providing a balanced education in the arts, sciences, and technology, while encouraging interdisciplinary and co-curricular activities. This article reports on the need for the INRE minor, learning outcomes, curriculum, approval process, student interest surveys, and enrolled INRE students\u27 focus group comments. This program may serve as a model for other academic institutions to bridge the gap between western and Indigenous science regarding the environment. Management and Policy Implications: Society of American Foresters members are called to abide by a Code of Ethics10 whose first Principle and Pledge states: “Foresters have a responsibility to manage land for current and future generations. We pledge to practice and advocate management that will maintain the long-term capacity of the land to provide the variety of materials, uses, and values desired by landowners and society.” How can foresters and land managers achieve this pledge? Integration of Indigenous and western science into university curricula and professional disciplines could lead to enhanced collaboration and stewardship of public and tribal lands. Cal Poly\u27s new Indigenous Studies in Natural Resources and the Environment (INRE) minor works to foster communication and collaboration across academic disciplines and programs by helping people better understand and respect the land, natural resources, and ecosystems. By presenting the INRE minor design and its learn-by-doing approach to resolving land, forest, and natural resource conflicts, we hope other academic institutions will use this program as a model to bridge the gap between western science and Indigenous knowledge of the environment, as well as to instill in the next generations of foresters a broader resource and land ethic

Pleiotropic and Epistatic Network-Based Discovery: Integrated Networks for Target Gene Discovery

Biological organisms are complex systems that are composed of functional networks of interacting molecules and macro-molecules. Complex phenotypes are the result of orchestrated, hierarchical, heterogeneous collections of expressed genomic variants. However, the effects of these variants are the result of historic selective pressure and current environmental and epigenetic signals, and, as such, their co-occurrence can be seen as genome-wide correlations in a number of different manners. Biomass recalcitrance (i.e., the resistance of plants to degradation or deconstruction, which ultimately enables access to a plant’s sugars) is a complex polygenic phenotype of high importance to biofuels initiatives. This study makes use of data derived from the re-sequenced genomes from over 800 different Populus trichocarpa genotypes in combination with metabolomic and pyMBMS data across this population, as well as co-expression and co-methylation networks in order to better understand the molecular interactions involved in recalcitrance, and identify target genes involved in lignin biosynthesis/degradation. A Lines Of Evidence (LOE) scoring system is developed to integrate the information in the different layers and quantify the number of lines of evidence linking genes to target functions. This new scoring system was applied to quantify the lines of evidence linking genes to lignin-related genes and phenotypes across the network layers, and allowed for the generation of new hypotheses surrounding potential new candidate genes involved in lignin biosynthesis in P. trichocarpa, including various AGAMOUS-LIKE genes. The resulting Genome Wide Association Study networks, integrated with Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) correlation, co-methylation, and co-expression networks through the LOE scores are proving to be a powerful approach to determine the pleiotropic and epistatic relationships underlying cellular functions and, as such, the molecular basis for complex phenotypes, such as recalcitrance

Interprofessional competencies: the poor cousin to clinical skills?

The purpose of this paper is to clarify what work-based IPE is, challenge some common misconceptions about its values in clinical settings and highlight tools that will assist with its implementation in such settings.N/